Day 2: Return to Ohio
Tok, Ak to
Haines Jct, CA, 8hrs. 295 miles
Awoke to
sunshine and 65 degrees. A quiet night
with twilight all night as we are north.
Have motel coffee and decide to skip breakfast. Clear views of Wrangell-St Elias ranges and
the wide valleys that collect all the glacial, snow and rain run-off. This is the area of a thousand lakes and
streams and gorged rivers. Athabaskans
are the natives here and their art and craft come from all fur animals, including
beaver and moose and non-fur, porcupine and salmon scales. Big bird migration area. Shasta daisies, cotton grass and fuchsia
pink fireweed were in bloom. The
fireweed grows in mass over areas of burned forest; Alaskans say, when the
blooms reach the top of the stalk, summer is over. They are halfway there.
The summer,
very different from our late spring trip.
The lower mountains have snow patches still on them, a slow thaw. Thankfully the weather is pleasant and views
good because past Northway Alaska on the Ak Highway it became driving
hell. Heave, potholes, washboard
subsidence, gravel with heavy dust that sometimes blinded us from oncoming
traffic. Then there were huge tracks of
road construction in US and Canada.
Stop, wait, then led by pilot car through mud and dirt and heavy
machinery all around. Don’t know how we
have not had a cracked windshield yet.
At the Canadian Border, Beaver Creek, we waited in line about 1
hour. They only had one person working
and she was taking her time. When it was
time for us to pull up, she must have gone on her lunch break, we sat and
waited some more. She asked a lot more
questions than usual and wanted our car registration besides passports. New or on a power binge? We passed into Yukon time and it jumped us
forward an hour. We have camped on
Kluane Lake in the past and know about the grizzlies, have seen their signs but
never them, thankfully. The road was
fairly empty but there on the side was a mother grizzly and three cubs. They
were new cubs this year and looked very healthy; but mom looked very thin and a
little haggard. She was a beautiful
nutmeg color but has yet had a chance to regain her winter weight; lots of
roots, plants and small animals, maybe some fish. But it is the fall berries that will really
put on her pounds. Don’t know if all
three babies will make it but they have had a good start.
From that
point on the road miraculously was better; most of this day’s mileage was a
mess. We were able to get up some speed
and enjoyed the views more without having to dodge obstructions. Kluane Lake is massive sized and today it is
a deep sky blue. We stop to look for the
largest gathering of Dall’s Sheep in Canada, not visible for us. We pull into our usual Haines Jct., Al Can
Hotel and are staying on the second floor.
The mountain vista seen from our room is beautiful as ever, only in July
it is less snow packed. We bought frozen
dinners in Tok and microwaving them.
We’re saving up our noshing for Haines tomorrow, hopefully at the Roadhouse.
Catching up
on blog. Seth sent pictures of he and Carrie’s
Garden harvest. He’s happy with 5 k run
he did with friends. Brenna sent us
Tinybean pics of their family’s week stacation.
They grabbed what hours and a couple days of sunshine they could get. They are building a new cabin at their lot on
Crooked Lake, still in process but taking shape.
Looks like
early rain in the morning so enjoying the sun for today.
Shorter
mileage tomorrow through some very beautiful highlands, crossing the border again,
on our way to Haines. Ak. We’ll leave
Yukon Time and enter Pacific time in British Columbia short term, that’s 2
hours jump forward from Ak. And then we
return to Ak time, jumping backward 2 hours.
Makes my head hurt.
Nighty
Night.
